Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Santa Barbara Million Dollar Home Raffle

Santa Barbara Million Dollar Home Raffle
Win a home in Santa Barbara or Malibu
 Million Dollar Home 8
This Raffle Benefits both the Santa Barbara Museum of Contemporary Art
and the Village Properties Teachers' Fund

PRIZES

VIEW MORE PRIZES »

It Pays To Use a Realtor

ItPaysToUseRealtor.jpg

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Beer Garden Fest at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Saturday February 22

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden


If you're a plant-loving, art-inspired beer drinker this is your season at the Garden. Don't miss the upcoming featured events and check out the fascinating new classes and field trips.

Happy reading,
Your friends at the Garden

The Santa Barbara Beer Garden:
A Tasting Tour


NEW DATE: Saturday, February 22
1:00pm - 5:00pm

For a truly unique beer tasting experience, put on your walking shoes and join us for a tasting tour with local breweries featuring beers selected to reflect the spirit and flavor of some of the Garden's displays. Cicerone andSanta Barbara Sentinel columnist Zachary Rosen has designed this mini-festival of beer and will be on-hand to guide guests through each selection. Attendance is limited - reserve now »

Friday, February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day!


How's your Valentine's Day going?

I count my blessings:

a gorgeous orchid plant from my sweetheart
lunch and a beautiful Valentine silver heart from my BFF
a lovely pot of red tulips from another dear friend
a call from my darling son
purrs and kitty kisses from my kitties

(not my kitty, but love the photo)

Hope you are enjoying your valentines
in whatever shape or style they come!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

9th Annual Wine Festival in Danish Town Solvang

Wine Glass
It's our biggest event of the year! Join us for the 9th Annual Wine Festival in February over the Valentine's/President's Day weekend 2/14-2/17 2014. You'll meet some of the winery owners and wine makers and enjoy 15 wine tastings, food, fun, take home a souvenir wine glass.
For more information and to purchase tickets visit http://santaynezwinecountry.com/events.html Participating wineries include: Buttonwood Farm Winery, Toccata, Rideau Vineyard, Imagine Wine, Standing Sun Wines, Daniel Gehrs Wines, Arthur Earl, Casa Cassara, Lucas & Lewellen, The Brander Vineyard, Cimarone & 3CV Wines, Alexander & Wayne, Lincourt Vineyards, Toretti Family Vineyards
- See more at: http://www.solvangusa.com/includes/events/?action=displayDetail&eventid=6777#sthash.nNX0mbS8.dpuf

Danish Town Solvang in the heart of Santa Ynes Wine Country



Solvang is a "Danish" Town just 30 
minutes north of Santa Barbara.

Velkommen til Solvang!

Welcome to Solvang, California 
A Preserve America Community

Solvang (Danish for 'sunny field') is a beautiful little city nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley of California. Founded in 1911 by a small group of Danish teachers, Solvang now is a diverse, modern city, with fine restaurants, lovely shops and outstanding activities to enchant young and old alike.There are Danish festivals, quiet tree lined streets, horse drawn wagons, Hans Christian Andersen Park, windmills, Danish pastries and dozens of quaint shops to explore. Solvang was incorporated as a city on May 1, 1985 and now has a population of approximately 5,283.

The City of Solvang celebrated its' Centennial Year in 2011. Now in it's second century it continues to thrive as a destination.
There are always many exciting events taking place throughout the year. The Solvang Conference and Visitors Bureau  continually updates their events calendar & events also take place at local historic sites and museums like the Elverhoj Museum.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Home Improvements that Pay You Back!

HomeImprovements.jpg

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Jonathan Winter's Estate Sale, Feb 6, 7, 8 and 9





Jonathan Winter's Estate Sale
Earl Warren Show Grounds

Jonathan Winters

Thursday 5-8pm Preview sale only
$25 donation at the door for Thursday preview
to benefit the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation

Friday, Saturday 10 am -4 pm
Sunday 10 am - 1 pm
free admission and parking


Santa Barbara Historic Walking Tour

Historic Walking Tour Is Now Available

SB Conservancy Offers Free Guide to Local Historic Landmarks

While it isn’t something that you might put on your top ten things to do, it’s kind of cool to walk around Santa Barbara and check out all of the old buildings, courtyards, city parks and historical adobes. Ranging east-west from State Street to Garden and north-south from Ortega to Arrellaga you can walk for hours.

THE BULLSEYE
My fascination with Santa Barbara architecture started many years ago when I took an art class from David Gebhardt, then a young professor at UCSB who would one day become one of the nation’s leading architectural historians. My assignment was to write a paper for the class on the Courthouse. Having come from a part of LA that was not known for its style or glamour, I found the Courthouse absolutely captivating and as I wandered about I spotted a number of nearby buildings that seemed to shout out history — the Museum of Art, Granada, Arlington — they gave me a sense there was something grand, something really significant in the stories that these buildings might tell me, if they could only talk.
Today thanks to the Santa Barbara Conservancy and a few techno tools, they almost can. This past week the Conservancy announced the completion of a free downtown historic walking tour, available online to download to computers, smartphones, ipods or tablets.
Download Google Map to your phone or tablet and use it to guide you along your walk.
Click to enlarge photo
Google Maps
Download Google Map to your phone or tablet and use it to guide you along your walk.
While you might not consider walking around town as an “outdoor experience” exactly, having the map, audio files — which you can download and import into iTunes as a complete broadcast or 30 separate audio files — and your phone or tablet enables you to learn a huge amount about the spectacular architecture in Santa Barbara’s Historic District.
At the SBC website you’ll find detailed descriptions and audio history of 30 historic buildings – including the Lobero, El Presidio, El Paseo, City Hall, Casa de la Guerra and many others. For many years theArchitectural Foundation of Santa Barbara has provided its Sabado and Domingo guided tours of the Historic District but this is the first time the information has been provided as a self-guided tour that you can enjoy from home or experience firsthand.

Ray Ford
Download the Historical Tour Map directly into your smart phone or tablet by scanning the QR code above.
Enjoy from home on your computer or download the audio files and map onto your smart phone or tablet and walk it yourself.
The Santa Barbara Conservancy was formed in 1998 by the late John Pitman, FAIA to increase public awareness of and participation in local preservation issues As the organization has evolved, the Conservancy has expanded its mission to include educating the general public on historic preservation, and documenting Santa Barbara’s wonderful historic resources. The Historic Walking Tour is a culmination of that vision.

Dave Jones
Carrillo Street photo of Masonic Lodge.
The tour, which begins and ends in the 800 block of State Street in Santa Barbara, visits many historic buildings in the downtown area, with narration about the history and significance of the architecture. The tour is narrated by Luis Moreno and features classical guitar accompaniment by the late Stephen Liston. The entire tour encompasses 5 square blocks in downtown Santa Barbara and is intended to last a few hours including leisure walking between the various sites.
“We could not be more pleased with the content and professional quality of this remarkable tour,” says Board President Don Sharpe. “It is a project we have been working on for several years, and we are so excited to make this resource available to both residents and tourists to this historic town.”
reprinted from article in the Santa Barbara Independent, by Ray Ford
click here for a link to the original article

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Mike Sciocia, Manager of the Los Angeles Angels in Santa Barbara February 7th


2014 Foresters Hot Stove Banquet
and
Hall of Fame Induction

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Santa Barbara International Film Festival features Leonardo DiCaprio,Oprah, and Robert Redford!






SBIFF will honor director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio with the 
Cinemas Vanguard Award at he the 29th edition of the Fest.  The award
 presentation and evening tribute, sponsored by Lynda.com, will take place on 
Thursday, February 6th at the historic Arlington Theatre.

Cinema Vanguard Award – Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

The American Riviera Award will be presented to actor, director
and producer Robert Redford on February 7th

American Riviera – Robert Redford

Oprah Winfrey will be honored with the prestigious Montecito award
presented by UGG
on behalf of her inspirational performance in Lee Daniels' The Butler
and as a celebration of her overall career.  The Tribute will take place on
Wednesday, February 5, at the historic Arlington Theatre

Oprah-Winfrey

Academy Award-nominated actor Bruce Dern will be 
awarded with the Modern Master Award
The Tribute will take place on Saturday, February 8, 2014 at 
the historic Arlington
Theatre and is sponsored by Adobe

Modern Master Award honoring Bruce Dern

Check the SBIFF website for more details and
for film showings